BackThe scripted wit of Kangana Ranaut
She is not afraid to offend; and she speaks intelligently, keeping you riveted while she explains why she loves whores
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Wit that offends or perturbs people in positions of power is rare in Hindi film stars. The world outside film studios and sets, outside groups that party together and backbite together, does not provoke them. The only two individuals from Mumbai’s film world I can think of who are politically incorrect and can make statements that resonate beyond the spangly aristocracies of Juhu and Bandra are Shah Rukh Khan and Kangana Ranaut. As public speakers and interviewees, the rest are anodyne.
Everything that SRK says has the halo of self-love—superstars anywhere in the world usually can’t escape it. He has a charming spontaneity, but his political incorrectness often mirrors and justifies that self-love. Ranaut, on the other hand, has perfected a bluntness that goes far beyond the self—she knows how to speak like and for a smart woman. I have no doubt she is smart. Her journey to Mumbai’s film world, her turnarounds and her arduous self-help project to get herself in are indexes enough (I wrote about this in a Lounge special issue in December 2014).
Ranaut’s interview on NDTV before she received her third National Award this week for Best Actress revealed the supremely confident public figure she now is. For those interested, a Facebook timeline is the best place to find the barbs, the viciousness and the interpretations of the strange, tabloid wet dream that her damaged, alleged relationship with actor Hrithik Roshan is. It is an ugly, complicated affair, tangled in legalese. Who knows who stalked whom, if there was a stalker at all? In the interview with Barkha Dutt, which came across as a platform to present her side of the story, Ranaut was articulate in a non-fussy way. I doubt that the answers weren’t scripted. She threw in some great one-liners: Let’s move on from labels like “witch" and “whore", they are too old; I anyway love witches and whores as an actor; who knows, I could have been the head witch of a witch community if I had lived in medieval times; success is a woman’s best revenge; my journey is not from Juhu to Bandra, it’s from a small village in Manali to Rashtrapati Bhavan; people who call me mentally unstable humiliate those who are living with mental disease; sexism is everywhere, so it is in the industry too; heroines are expected to be pretty asses and it’s convenient to be one, isn’t it?; yes, I do break down sometimes, but there is always cupcake.
Where speaking your mind is best expressed by joining or supporting a political party—moving on from Anupam Kher, Sanjay Dutt in a saffron turban recently expressed his open support for the country’s ruling party at an event in Dindoshi, Mumbai, soon after he returned to Pali Hill from jail—Ranaut is a Bollywood outlier. She once declined an offer to advertise a fairness cream.
Ranaut’s personal life could be a mess, but she knows how to turn the phrase and explain rivetingly why she loves whores.
She has scripted her success. That photo above tells you, success is already her revenge.
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